Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Sorry Styrene, but the Dome is Aluminum...

...or is that aluminium?! :-D Okay, I feel a bit like a traitor, but I'm using an aluminum dome -- the R & J dome to be exact. It's a thing of beauty, but it does add quite a bit of weight. So it's not a complete styrene build...more like a Frankendroid!

After I finished applying metallic striping to my inner skin, I set work on the body aside until it's a bit cooler, as my next step involves some painting.

So, out comes the next big part of the droid puzzle: the dome! Luckily for me, excellent R2 Build blogger Victor Franco has the same dome (see his blog on the lower right) so I was able to refer to his posts for this part. At least at first. I could see right away the "gap" issue, so I skipped ahead and started removing panels prior to the big sanding I know is coming. Like Victor, I kept attached any panel that would need tracing onto the inner dome later. Standing on the shoulders of building giants, I am!

Instructions for panel-removal called for sawing off three of the wee connectors on each panel, then twisting off the fourth. I chose to saw off only two (on opposite sides) -- so the twisting would be on two connectors -- eliminating some sawing! Woo! Yeah, I'm lazy that way. But it worked!



I used a hacksaw blade, and wrapped one end in toweling so I'd not saw my sawing hand. Good call there, I'd say.

I started filing off the little nubs but ran out of time before finishing. I'm off to a convention in Baltimore for the weekend, so...see y'all next week!

3 comments:

  1. Looking good there Bith... A metal dome on a styrene droid... Groovy!!! I did think about something similar myself at first, but the finances stopped me dead in my tracks, but after i got my C&D styrene dome and then saw Irishjedis Tamiya Silver painted dome i havent looked back.

    However i cant get moving forward as i am still without glue for my build. My gf in PR is holding some Weld-On #3 for me, but we're not certain it will ship here. Most of my frame is ready and cut, but im gonna do the top frame ring over again, as i thought of adding support for a slip ring, and i have one on order. I have also started cutting the skirt. Yesterday i got my Vmusic2 module in the mail. I have an order with XenoMarco for more parts (utility arms etc.) and i also got orders for spacers for the HP holders, dome paint and JB Weld on order. Today i've only tinkered with holoprojectors and the HP holders.

    I love coming by your blog to read. Good to see your making progress. I hope to be able to catch up with you in a few weeks.

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  2. Thanks for the comment Therseus! And good luck getting your glue -- putting it together is so much fun. You'll be building soon, I'm sure!

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  3. Oh wow! Cool! If you run into any problems cutting let us know. Todd has a really cool tool that can cut in no time.

    Oh Therseus Weldon is awesome.

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